In an endoscopic surgical operation (also referred to as laparoscopic surgery), a plurality of holes are punctured in the abdomen of a patient, trocars (tubular instruments) are inserted through the holes, and a laparoscope (camera) and a plurality of forceps are inserted into the body cavity via each of the trocars. Grippers, scissors, and blades of an electrosurgical knife for gripping biological tissue are mounted to the tip of the forceps as an end effector.
The laparoscope and the forceps are inserted into the body cavity, and then an operator operates with the forceps while viewing a state of the inner portion of the abdominal cavity, which is shown on a monitor that is connected to the laparoscope. Since the surgical procedure does not require a laparotomy, the burden on the patient is decreased, which reduces the number of days for postoperative recovery and leaving the hospital. For this reason, the fields that such an operative method can be applied to are expected to expand.
Other than typical forceps that are not provided with joints at distal end portions thereof, as forceps that are inserted through a trocar, forceps referred to as a medical manipulator have been developed that are provided with joints at distal end portions and which can carry out a rolling operation or a tilting operation of an end effector (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 4391762). In accordance with such a medical manipulator, a high degree of operational freedom is achieved in the body cavity, and manual procedures are made easy. Thus, there are a large number of medical cases to which the medical manipulator may be applied.